Typical applications for ropes, lines, and other like flexible, load-carrying articles frequently require formation of a stable, load-carrying loop at a free end portion of the rope. For example, in marine applications, formation of a stable loop is typically required for mooring, towing, hoisting, and like operations. Of course, applications apart from marine uses similarly require stable loop-formation.
Despite the widespread need for typical loop-formation, methods for providing such loops have heretofore been relatively inconvenient or cumbersome to employ. For example, in the case of braided or twisted rope, loop-formation can be effected by a woven splice, but this requires the particular knowledge of the necessary weaving technique, and can be quite time-consuming (typically 5-10 minutes) to complete. Moreover, some braided ropes cannot be spliced.
While mechanical devices, such as clamps and the like can be fitted to ropes for loop-formation, such devices typically require the use of associated tools, may be subject to corrosion (particularly in marine application), and are similarly time-consuming to properly fit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,240, to Spinner et al., contemplates a loop-forming device which provides some advantages over previous approaches, but which nevertheless suffers from distinct deficiencies in its performance, and its economical application. The device of this patent includes a pair of end rings between which extend two or three unevenly spaced bars. For use, a rope is inserted through the end rings of the device, and then manipulated so that a portion of the rope extends between the unevenly spaced bars. A loop is thereafter formed generally by wrapping the rope around the bars of the device.
The principal drawback of the device of this patent relates to its inability to be relatively economically formed. Each of the end rings of the device are disclosed as comprising ring-shaped elements formed from material having a circular cross-section, while each of the unevenly spaced bars are illustrated and specified as being of a rounded configuration. As a consequence, the device does not at all lend itself to economic formation from metallic materials, by virtue of the extensive metal working required to appropriately fit the bar components to the end rings, nor does the device lend itself to manufacture by molding, without resort to extremely complex and expensive molding devices having collapsible elements and the like.
Moreover, this patent states that the specified uneven spacing of the bar elements is intended to facilitate use with different size ropes. However, it is believed that this uneven spacing can undesirably lead to confusion by users as to the correct use of the device, and moreover, can undesirably result in possible deformation due to the inevitable uneven loading of the asymmetrical (relative to the longitudinal axis) construction.
The present invention contemplates a desirably straightforward and readily manufactured rope-tying device which facilitates convenient and efficient loop-formation in ropes and like flexible elements.